keep breaking saddlebag/exhaust support ?
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Outstanding HDF Member
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From: Northern California
keep breaking saddlebag/exhaust support ?
I have had three of the saddlebag support/exhaust support brackets break, you know the one that mounts on the fender on the left side and bolts to the cross brace behind the fender and also to the exhaust hanger. On two of them the bends from Harley were not correct and I massaged them to have a flush fit with no need to force them together with the bolts. Does anyone have a fix for this problem other than just buying new ones ?? There really does not appear to be much room to add additional steel and I wonder if welding will weaken it also ?? any input??
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Outstanding HDF Member
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From: Northern California
If you mean the bracket that bridges the load between the supports at the rear tip behind the fender than no I am not missing that and everything else appears to be as it should be according to the manual, I have added the detachables hardware though.
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Outstanding HDF Member
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From: Northern California
The left side is the problem and they start the break right in the middle of the bend radius, the one currently on the bike has just started and I was thinking of drilling it where the crack stops and then grinding out the crack, welding it up and maybe see if I can fit a additional gusset in there. Not much room is there??
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Outstanding HDF Member
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From: Northern California
I was at the local Harley Dealer yesterday and out of curiosity looked at several of the bikes in the service area and found the majority of the baggers had the same left side support with cracks in it or broken, The service manager said it was common. So nobody else on this board has this problem or has a creative real fix for this issue ?
The Schlong Man
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Road Warrior
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I had one guy tell me to put a flat washer under the front and let it slip around a little and that will keep them from braking. I put a long bolt through mine then a cotter pin to keep the nut from backing off and that has seemed to work, it has been almost a year since i had one brake. I dont know if that will work for everybody but it has for me.
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When mine cracked - I took it off, cleaned it up and welded it back together in it's original bend. When I went to put it back together, I could see that the support bar underneath the bag that's part of the total assembly was angled out and it would take tighhtening the bolts to line it up.
I took off the saddlebag and the side panel. I loosened up the rear saddlebag crash bar from the frame and loosend the crash bar to the support bar that holds the saddle bag.
From there, I started at the back of the bike and bolted the newly welded fender bracket up flush with the saddle bag support bar, with no stress on it. Then I checked the fit at the other end of the support bar to the crash bar, made sure there was no stress on it and tightened that flush. This left the crashbar to the frame as all that was left to align. The top mount for the crashbar to the frame was good and flush but the bottom mount of the crashbar to the frame was "tweaked". They just were slightly twisted and did not line up. I used a crescent wrench to tweak the frame tab a little and get it to line up flush. Then tightened it up and was good to go. 30k on it since then and no more probs with that part at least !
I took off the saddlebag and the side panel. I loosened up the rear saddlebag crash bar from the frame and loosend the crash bar to the support bar that holds the saddle bag.
From there, I started at the back of the bike and bolted the newly welded fender bracket up flush with the saddle bag support bar, with no stress on it. Then I checked the fit at the other end of the support bar to the crash bar, made sure there was no stress on it and tightened that flush. This left the crashbar to the frame as all that was left to align. The top mount for the crashbar to the frame was good and flush but the bottom mount of the crashbar to the frame was "tweaked". They just were slightly twisted and did not line up. I used a crescent wrench to tweak the frame tab a little and get it to line up flush. Then tightened it up and was good to go. 30k on it since then and no more probs with that part at least !
Last edited by 89FLHT; Sep 25, 2008 at 01:28 PM.